Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Everyday Moments in Play

When the snow falls and stays on the frozen ground our trips to the Monarch Woods begin to wain; the path leading in to the forest becomes far too slippery for little feet to navigate.

Luckily our neighborhood is full of wonderful paths with little pockets of nature to explore.

One of our favorite such spaces is Red River Park. It has a wide field perfect for running and a hill that invites rolling and jumping. There are bushes that make a brilliant little playhouse for the children to hide away in and go on adventures.

C discovered a small tree that was broken and low to the ground so she and K sat on it and tried to make it bounce. They were both highly engaged in the activity, working together and sharing this joyful moment. Who needs a teeter-totter? This was way more fun!

Finding our way through the small passages made by the bare, outstretched tree branches takes skill and coordination. A is just learning to maneuver through the space with all of his gear on, which is tough since walking is still a fairly new skill (something he only mastered earlier in the summer months).

Natural loose parts like sticks, rocks, leaves, and even snow become a million different things in the hands of young children and it is amazing to observe their creativity. D and C fought imaginary monsters with sticks and ran and ducked under branches while A and B laughed at their antics.

Sticks also became tools for mark making in the snow. While some of the children focused on making representations of things such as airplanes or family members others tried their hand at making letters and letter-like symbols.

"Children learn from anything and everything they see. They learn wherever they are, not just in special learning places." - John Holt

I'm so glad we have these wonderful natural spaces to explore together ❄️☃️

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

When we go for walks in our community the children often notice symbols on the signs we see around us. They are beginning to understand that those symbols have meaning which is really amazing because it is an emergent literacy skill! In the same way that children recognize that symbols have meaning they begin to understand letters and combinations of letters have meaning as well.As young children begin keying into symbols, they are making a huge conceptual leap; they’re learning that a “picture” can convey a message. They can decipher it on their own and put to use. With this dawning realization (I know what that says!), their interest grows. - Signs and Symbols
On Friday when the children and I visited the forest we observed a sign on the path and talked about what they thought the symbols might mean.

C noticed the symbol of a person inside a green circle and said, "You can run here!"
D looked at both symbols, a bike inside a green circle and a person inside a green circle,…

Today we learned a lot about resilience.
Resilience is an incredibly important skill for little people to master. Learning to persevere when problems arise means that children can overcome obstacles and are comfortable failing and trying again (which is a key component of learning!)

Resilience is defined by Merrium Webster as an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
We decided we wanted to go to the library this morning, but when we got there it was closed! We were very sad, and wet because it had started to rain so we stopped at the community centre to warm up and dry off.

"This is boring!" C said, sitting at a little table in the community centre with A. I agreed, and empathized, letting her know I was feeling disappointed too but we could work together to make a new plan.

We looked at the map to see what was close by and found out that there was a park not too far away. We decided to walk over to play and then grab a special lunch from the sto…

We love to explore outside in all sorts of weather; today we went for a walk to find puddles to splash in. Water is such a huge interest for the children and they are always deeply engaged in their explorations.

“Engagement” refers to a state of being genuinely involved and interested in what one is doing. Optimal conditions for learning occur when we are fully engaged. For children, this happens in play that evolves from the child’s natural curiosity – active play that allows children to explore with their bodies, minds, and senses, stimulating them to ask questions, test theories, solve problems, engage in creative thinking, and make meaning of the world around them.

- How Does Learning Happen

The children followed water flowing down the hill and wondered why it was moving that way. They put leaves and sticks in the water to watch it flow.

They jumped in the puddles and predicted that if they jumped higher or stomped their feet harder they could make bigger splashes, then they tested …